


that little bit more beautiful

by Moransroar



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Getting Together, Hurt Tony Stark, Love Confessions, Resolved Sexual Tension, Shower Sex, Unsafe Sex, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:34:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24963808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moransroar/pseuds/Moransroar
Summary: Tony comes home battered and bruised, and Pepper helps him in the shower.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 100





	that little bit more beautiful

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ErjaStark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErjaStark/gifts).



> This is all Erja's fault. As per usual.
> 
> >:)

Pepper’s book toppled off her lap and to the floor when she dropped it the minute she lay eyes on Tony.

He came stumbling in, looking like he was about to lose consciousness, the Iron Man suit folding away to reveal that whatever skin lay bare, was covered in cuts and bruises.

“Oh my god, Tony!” She yelped, and was up in seconds, quickly taking off her reading glasses to toss them to the coffee table before she approached him, just in time to catch him as one of his knees gave out.

“Hey Pep,” he said, as casually as ever, which under any other circumstances might have made Pepper huff in fond exasperation. But right now, with how badly he was looking, there was only worry in her expression. She held onto his arms until he steadied himself, and then she put an arm around his waist. “I’m good,” he tried (and failed) to reassure her, “I’m fine. Just give me a minute.”

“What on earth happened?” She urged him while she looked him over, assessing the damage. It didn’t seem like there was anything too serious, no furiously bleeding wounds, no open gashes, no limbs that seemed like they’d twisted the wrong way - just cuts and bruises. And all in all, that was a best case scenario. As long as there was no internal bleeding.

While Tony took a breather, FRIDAY kindly explained to Pepper that the damage was minimal, but that Mr. Stark would need some time to rest. And naturally, that was exactly where Pepper came in. An AI wouldn’t be able to keep Tony confined to his bed for a few days, but she might just be able to do the trick. If she went about this the right way.

“Tony…” Pepper murmured, half chastising and half cooing, touching a gentle hand to Tony’s hair. She knew that was something that usually managed to soothe him, so hopefully it might distract him a little bit from how badly his chest was heaving, and how much his bruised up body had to hurt.

Tony lifted his head after a couple of moments from where he’d been half bent over, and flashed Pepper a smile. She could see it was pinched though, and planned on making sure the next smile he’d sent her way would be nothing but soft again. No pain.

“Hi,” he said, again, through his smile. This time, Pepper couldn’t resist rolling her eyes at him.

“You _scared_ me,” she complained.

“It’s what I’m good at,” he countered.

And unfortunately, he was right.

Tony straightened up with a groan, and brushed a hand over Pepper’s cheek in passing as he extracted himself from her hold to continue on into the house.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Pepper demanded to know.

Without stopping or looking back, Tony replied, “I’m going to take a nice, long shower, and then I’m going to bed.”

Pepper hurried after him as he ascended the stairs, because god knows that he was going to hurt himself even more when left unsupervised in the state he was in at that moment.

She followed him up into the bathroom, where she helped him undress. Despite his protest, because of course Tony fought to keep careful control of his dignity. But then when he lifted his arms over his head trying to take his shirt off and a stabbing pain emitted in his ribs, he had no choice but to let Pepper help.

Her hands were gentle and cautious, but firm and quick, peeling off article after article of clothing. She left him to take his underwear off himself, so she could turn on the shower and let it run warm, even though she assured Tony countless of times that she’d seen him in a much worse shape before. And equally nude, so he didn’t have to worry about his decorum.

She kept her hand under the stream of water until it was a nice temperature, and looked Tony over quickly. She tried to keep her eyes averted as much as she could, but she had to check on his injuries, didn’t she? Especially if she was going to tend to the wounds that had been inflicted upon him after he’d come out of the shower.

“It’s warm,” she announced to Tony where he sat on the edge of the lavish bath tub, and held out a hand in offering to help him to his feet.

He stood stiffly, likely aching from the purples and blues on his skin, sore from whatever onslaught of hits he’d taken, and stepped into the shower and under the warm water. Pepper could hear him hiss as the water hit the first cut, but it was for the best. Whatever dirt and soot had gone into it, needed to get out to ensure proper healing.

She sat down on the edge of the bath, wanting to stay nearby in case something happened.

“I’ll be right here if you need anything,” she called. And sure, this was a bit unconventional, but Pepper had done more than this for Tony, and she liked to think that if their roles were reversed, Tony would have done the same for her. Hopefully.

Tony was awfully quiet for being, well, Tony. It shouldn’t have worried Pepper as much as it did, but unfortunately she had always been a worrywart. Tony was no exception of her worrying. In fact, the closer they got, the more she felt anything for and surrounding him. Worry, happiness, excitement over accomplishments. She tried not to overanalyze what it meant, but she had a creeping feeling that she already knew exactly what was going on.

“Tony?” She called after a few minutes when the silence became unbearable. Normally, Tony would be chatting up a storm by now. She fully expected him to tell her everything about whoever it was that he’d fought, but she got nothing but the occasional groan or huff. It didn’t sit right with her. “Tony, is everything okay?”

Again, nothing.

Now she was really starting to worry. She stood, and stuck her head around the thin wall separating the walk-in from the rest of the bathroom, to find Tony standing with his hands braced against the wall and his head down, breathing shallowly. She nearly panicked.

She made a split decision as she stepped back and kicked off her shoes and all but tore the blouse off her chest before stepping out of her skirt, leaving her in just her underwear so that she could step into the shower after Tony and approach him cautiously.

“Tony,” she said softly as she drew nearer, and Tony lifted his head enough to rest his cheek on his arm and look her over. She could see the surprise in his face, but exhaustion overrode most of that.

“C’mere,” she murmured, and put a hand through his hair to slick it back, “Let me take care of you.”

And she did exactly that. She grabbed a bottle of shampoo and rubbed the soap into his hair, soothing her fingers over his scalp to get the suds everywhere before she coaxed him to tilt his head back to rinse it out. She promised she had him, that she wasn’t going to let him go, that he was going to be fine. Her best guess was that Tony’s head was full of thought she would never be able to fathom or untangle, twisting around viciously. After everything he’d been through, she wouldn’t be surprised when sometimes these things just got to be too much. And after an attack like that… Obviously some things were going to resurface.

But Pepper was going to be there to help him forget, if only for a little while.

Tony gave in after his hair was done, and leaned against Pepper while she took a bar of soap and eased it across undoubtedly aching muscles. She steered clear of any cuts, especially the bigger ones, avoiding getting soap in them while still cleaning off all the grime off Tony’s skin.

She kneaded her hands into the stiff muscles of Tony’s back and was grateful to feel him slowly ease up under her touch.

“That’s it,” she breathed, one hand smoothing up and down Tony’s spine.

Tony was warm against her, his arms around her waist, fingers spread across her back. To hold onto her, she’d assumed. That didn’t mean it didn’t feel good though. Pepper really tried not to overanalyze their situation but again, it was so easy to do when Tony was holding her in return, and when he had his face buried into the crook of her neck – resting, but at the same time, she could feel his lips against the side of her neck.

It drove her a little bit crazy. It shouldn’t, but it did.

She suddenly noticed one of Tony’s hands had dipped significantly lower, resting just at the top of the swell of her ass, over the thin elastic band of her underwear. And when she noticed where exactly it was, she felt it shift even lower, purposely slowly, and she tutted.

“Don’t you think now is not the time for that kind of thing?” She chastised, tilting her head down a bit to try and catch his gaze where he still had his cheek resting against her shoulder.

He slowly lifted his head, and it brought them close. Very close. Close enough that Pepper could feel Tony’s breath on her lips when he gave a weak little smile and spoke.

“When is it ever gonna be time, Pep?” He asked, and it took Pepper by surprise.

“Time for what?” She had to be sure that they were on the same wavelength here, because surely they weren’t talking about the same thing.

“Us. You and me. We’ve been dancing around this for too long. At least I know I have.”

Pepper didn’t know where this was coming from, but she had an inkling that it had something to do with an impeding feeling of death and doom that Tony must have experienced during that night’s outing. And now it seemed that it was all coming out. His inhibitions were always lowered when he was tired, and hurt, and he appeared to be plenty of both of those things right now.

“What are you trying to say, Tony?” She asked carefully, cupping his face in one of her hands to help him look at her when he tried to avert his gaze. She wanted to know if he was serious. About this. About her. If he was saying what she thought he was saying… that changed everything.

Tony’s eyes lifted, and Pepper searched them for answers. But the answer she was looking for wasn’t there. It was on his lips, which found hers, softer than she could ever have imagined, but with an urgency that made it crystal clear what this was, and why it was happening.

Pepper’s eyes didn’t even have the chance to fall shut before it was over again, and Tony had pulled back and looked at her with an almost pleading expression that she’d never seen on him before.

A beat passed in which they both looked at each other as if they were trying to find an affirmation, before it was Pepper who closed the distance a second time. She knew when a good opportunity presented itself, had experienced it countless of times in her career, and she was well aware that if she didn’t kiss him now, she could lose everything that she’d worked for.

Not her job, not her function within Stark Industries – but Tony, and their relationship, and what they had spent so long building and working towards.

So she kissed him firmly on the lips, and Tony appeared to find the last little shreds of energy in his body to pull her close so tightly that it almost hurt. His arms coiled around her waist, hand still on her ass, squeezing now – and she let him. God, she’d let him do anything he wanted to, right here and right now, if it meant that they would never have to go back to the way things had been before. If this was Tony’s choice, if this was his bed and he was going to lay in it, then Pepper would be right there beside him.

She had wanted him for ages. Had never admitted it to herself, but deep down, she’d always known. And now it was clear that Tony wanted her just the same. And Tony knew, he had to know, that she didn’t do anything by halves. He had to know that she wouldn’t be another one of his floozies, that she wouldn’t want to be kicked out of the bed the following morning to never speak to him or be spoken to again.

Pepper was confident that he knew, and thus this could only mean one thing.

This would be permanent.

Tony backed her up against the shower wall and she went willingly, arms snaking around his neck to keep him close, keep their lips together. He licked into her mouth before she could initiate it, and she reciprocated eagerly, legs going up around Tony’s waist when she found that he was holding her in place so firmly that she could.

Tony was hard against the inside of her thigh, and if she hadn’t been equally desperate, then she might have commented on it, teased him about it. But as it were, she hated that she hadn’t gone as far as to take off all her clothes. Now there was this annoying fabric keeping them apart where it mattered most, and it was driving her crazy.

“Wait,” she breathed against Tony’s lips, and Tony stilled almost immediately, freezing up. He pulled back to look at her and she quickly reassured him with a small kiss to the corner of his mouth. She brought a hand down to the waistband of her panties, and licked her lips. “Let me take these off.”

Tony’s brows rose in evident surprise, but he obliged and stepped back and watched, mesmerized, how Pepper pushed her soaked panties down and kicked them aside. She showed no shame, but the butterflies in her stomach proved that there was indeed some nerves there.

Tony put a hand on her waist and brushed it down over her hip, admiring her as she stood there and reached behind herself to take off her bra, as well.

“Jesus,” Tony cursed when the clip popped, and the fabric fell away slowly as she allowed it to, “Stunning. Absolutely… Absolutely stunning.”

She couldn’t take his scrutiny for very long and pulled him close again, effectively trapping Tony’s cock between their bodies.

“Only if you want to,” she said. He knew what she was talking about without needing further information, and nodded quickly.

“Have for the longest time. Do you?”

Pepper smiled and nodded. “I trust you.”

Tony acted as if all his injuries had been forgotten. Pepper assumed that had to have something to do with the same adrenaline rush that she was experiencing right now. Hopefully it wouldn’t aggravate things, because if it did then she wasn’t so sure if she’d think it was worth it after all.

Tony crowded her against the shower wall once again, though this time he trapped a hand between them, his fingers sliding down from her belly button to the top of her folds, brushing over her clit before pushing between. Tony took a shuddery breath when he found that she was wet already, the same way he was hard, just from their kissing.

Frankly, neither of them were surprised something so simple had had that kind of effect on them. Not after years and years of tension. Not after how they had danced around each other for so long, always beating around the bush.

Pepper spread her legs for as far as she was capable without slipping, and Tony took advantage of it to press further, slipping a finger inside of her, and then almost immediately adding a second one alongside the first. She was perfectly loose, and just for him. He must have been doing _something_ right.

He rubbed her gently, watching her closely to make sure that what he was doing was something she liked. The way her thighs trembled every time his thumb passed over her clit was telltale, and told him enough of the state she was currently in, so he shouldn’t have been so worried but he couldn’t help but want this to be perfect.

Granted, maybe they should have moved this somewhere else, but the need was dire. Very dire indeed.

Tony wouldn’t admit that he was afraid that once they’d leave the shower, this safe, confined space, that their bubble would burst, and the fantasy would be over.

So he’d make the most of it. He teased her until she pawed at his hand, twitching and gasping, and then put one hand under her knee and lifted her leg while he grabbed his cock with his other hand and lined up.

She took him with ease. Even despite the angle, and the position, and the way her muscles strained to keep herself like that long enough for Tony to be able to sink the head of his cock into her.

She moaned, head falling back against the tiles she was pinned up against, toes curling as he sank in deeper and deeper.

Then he hooked his arm under her leg, and did the same to her other leg to lift her up and keep her firmly in place with his body against hers. She yelped when she lost her footing, but Tony stood his ground, and rocked into her to show her that he was perfectly in control.

He surprised her, with all those injuries, just how well he thrust into her. It was as if nothing had ever happened. He rocked his hips with ease, putting his hands on her waist to have something to grab onto while he fucked into her. Her hands fell to his shoulders, nails digging into skin that was luckily as yet unblemished – but wouldn’t remain that way for very long.

It wasn’t the first time either of them had imagined, but it was something they would think back to often.

The way Tony grunted, muscles straining and mouth seeking out Pepper’s neck and jaw and lips to lay his claim, along with Pepper’s moans, breath hitching on every thrust deep inside of her. They were never going to last long, but they didn’t have to.

Pepper dropped a hand to rub herself as she neared her orgasm, squeezing around Tony with every other thrust, which in turn brought him to the very verge more quickly than he would care to admit. And when she coiled tightly around him the second she came, Tony followed shortly after, unable to stave it off much longer when he laid eyes on the way she looked when she came, and heard the breathless little sounds that she made.

He kissed her as they trembled through their respective orgasms together, holding onto each other tightly. It was sloppy, but wonderful – warm and unhurried. A seal of sorts, if you will. A promise.

Only when they had both caught their breath, and Tony pulled back to ever so slowly let Pepper down until she found her feet and didn’t wobble too much, did Tony dare speak again. If one of them was going to burst their bubble, it would be him. Right? He’d be courteous enough to be the first to initiate that awful record scratch.

“Was that a mistake?” He asked, still sounding out of breath. Holding Pepper up like that must have put a lot of strain on his body.

Pepper leaned back against the wall, and reached for Tony to try and pull him back in. She already missed the contact of his skin on hers, and could see that if she was allowed, she’d get addicted to that feeling very quickly.

Dangerous, perhaps. But worth it.

“No,” she shook her head firmly, and framed Tony’s head between her hands to cradle it in her hold, “Absolutely not. Never. Unless you think it was.”

Tony didn’t need to think twice about it, but still he took a moment to look at Pepper from up close, now that they had done what they just had. She was still just as beautiful. And he still loved her just as much. And while he was sure that she was different than all of the others, and always had been sure of that, it was a relief to find that even after he’d found his release, he still wanted her near. Unlike all of the other girls he’d dated in the past.

She had always been an exception.

“I could never think you are a mistake, Pep. Never.”

That night, after Pepper had tended to Tony’s cuts and bruises and had coaxed him to his bed, Tony put on his best puppy dog eyes, and Pepper relented.

The following morning, Tony woke up with a woman next to him that he actually wanted there, lacking that usual feeling of panic and the urge to flee. He turned over and found her still asleep, looking just as stunning as the day before.

Hell, if he looked closely, she actually looked that little bit more beautiful to him.

And every day after that, he’d fall a little bit more in love with her, surprised that something like that was even possible.


End file.
